Type I rifle

The Type I rifle was a bolt-action military rifle made in Italy for the Empire of Japan in the early years of World War II. The name does not mean the numeral one; the I stands for Italian. After the Second Sino-Japanese War began, Japan could not produce rifles fast enough at home and bought foreign ones, but unlike those purchases the Type I was designed specifically for Japanese forces. It paired a Carcano action with the Type 38 rifle pattern and the five-round box magazine of the Arisaka and Mauser style, chambered for the 6.5 x 50 mm cartridge. About 120,000 were produced in 1938 and 1939, thirty thousand each by Beretta and Fabbrica Nazionale d'Armi and sixty thousand by the state arsenal at Gardone Val Trompia, and the last shipment reached Japan on 28 December 1939. The Imperial Japanese Navy was the main user, mostly for training, and some went to garrison units of the Imperial Japanese Army and to Chinese puppet forces.